Noob needs help/tip with live rock

[jason604]

Ok so I bought 70lbs of live rock today and I left it about 1.5 hr out of the original water. I used my clean spare water I use to refill my pond n put it in a large bucket to mix the salt n put the rocks in. The thing is the water was 5deg c when I put the rocks in. I was afraid that the rocks might have died if I didn't put it in soon. There is a heater and power head for it and the water is now at about 20 deg. Did I screw up and killed everything from the really cold water? Also how do I start my cycle? What do I do. I'll have a proper tank in 2 weeks. Please advise me with some your Ur long term knowledge lol

[gregzz4]

Rock goes through all kinds of stuff when it's shipped, so don't fret it :smile:

Get your LR water up to about 1.025 and 78-82F, and start curing it
Give it a powerhead with your heater, and some air input helps if your powerhead allows

What kind of cycle do you want to start ?
Do you want to cure/cook you rock in a tub, or do you just want to put it in your tank ?

[jason604]

Rock goes through all kinds of stuff when it's shipped, so don't fret it :smile:

Get your LR water up to about 1.025 and 78-82F, and start curing it
Give it a powerhead with your heater, and some air input helps if your powerhead allows

What kind of cycle do you want to start ?
Do you want to cure/cook you rock in a tub, or do you just want to put it in your tank ?

the person i bought it from said its already cured... i just want the fastest way possible to start putting a cleanup crew in first and then fish etc... i read about putting a shrimp in to jump start the ammonia.. should i do this now or wait a few days?

[apexifd]

you should have a mini cycle, test for ammonia in few day, and see how's the result on that. once zero test for nitrite.

you can put in bacteria culture to speed things up. I personally will use Brightwell Microbacter 7.

[Otardifus]

I think your live rock will still do the job it just might take longer to cycle.
Keep an eye on your levels.
Look for pods in your live rock. If your tank is not full of 1000's of pods after a month or so you should consider trading sum live rock from an established tank. sum stores sell premium live rock.
so as a noob my advice to you is don't forget about the pods! and at 5 deg celcius I think most would have died but it is easy and fast to reseed pods back into a tank. my favorite way is to get a chaeto plant ball put it in your tank for a few hours (or days) then remove it the pods will transfer to live rock.
now you gotta ask your self the question: to have sand or not to have sand !
I hope you have lots of fun in you new hobby and the people here at canreef are an excellent knowledge pool just keep asking

[jason604]

Yes I would like to have live sand. Should I get them and dump it into my container of live rock? Do I need to cover container so no light can get in? Course sand not fine sand right?